


Your Legacy, Your Destiny

by smallxion



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Continuation, Episode: Sworn to the Sword, Gen, Insecure Connie, Male-Female Friendship, Self-Esteem Issues, Sleepovers, Sworn To The Sword
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-16
Updated: 2015-06-16
Packaged: 2018-04-04 15:07:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4142310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallxion/pseuds/smallxion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Connie doesn't think she's awesome, and that makes Steven's heart hurt a little bit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Legacy, Your Destiny

_No, Steven, I understand now! Your legacy, your destiny…you are everything! And I? I am nothing._

Steven’s mouth is hanging open. It’s not exactly the words she says that surprise him- on the contrary, there have been many a day when Connie’s lamented the exact same idea- but the fact that Pearl is supporting that kind of mindset.

*

She is nothing. Her best (and sort of only) friend is a stone tumbling through his heritage of revolution and war and greatness that he doesn’t understand and yet he glows and radiates the potential to be something that neither humanity nor gemkind has ever seen before. Steven is the universe by name and a miracle by nature, and he makes a point of being so sweet that Connie can’t help but smile when she sees him running up to her, holding a bag of fry bits.

As long as it’s fry bits. If he’s holding some ancient gem artefact, Connie feels excitement tingle in her fingertips, but the price is the way her heart seems to drop into her stomach. She’ll never be significant in the way he is. He’s an amalgamation of two completely different species, the very embodiment of the Earth’s protection, and she’s little friendless Connie Maheswaran who isn’t even allowed to eat donuts in case the evil trans fats contaminate her. She plays violin, she wears glasses without lenses and she has only ever had one friend. It’s selfish, but sometimes she wishes he wasn’t so much better than her.

Whenever she voices any of that to Steven, his eyes get big and shiny, and his bottom lip quivers a little. He is always so quick to come in with insistences that no, of course he’s not better than her! They work together on no hierarchy, making each other better all the time. He reminds her of all the books he would never have appreciated on deeper levels if not for her, and of how beautifully she can make music and the skill with which she fights. Not only that, but she is kind, and she’s always there for him- “Don’t you remember? I thought ending our friendship would protect you and you snapped me out of it! That was great!”

He remembers when they were fused and he felt her self-consciousness, the way that as Stevonnie, every step they took seemed to be some kind of statement. He never brings it up, but sometimes he just stares at her and wonders if that’s how she feels all the time.

Steven holds Connie’s hand and squeezes it tightly, telling her she is absolutely worth it. He needs his best friend, and he wouldn’t want anyone else to fill that role.

*

When Pearl goes back on herself and says they can both be knights, one part of Steven is thrilled! He and Connie belong fighting side by side to protect each other and the planet, and the fact that Pearl can see that is hugely reassuring, but something isn’t right. The way Connie so readily, almost cheerfully called herself nothing has lit concern in him that he can’t press down. Sure, she’d insisted that she and Steven were a package deal, but he can’t help but wonder how much of that she’d really meant and how much of it was just her humouring him.

Her mindset had been getting a lot better, and Steven isn’t angry at Pearl because he knows she only wants the best (for Earth, for him, for his mother) but he’s beside himself with worry, because what if she’s triggered Connie’s bad feelings and they come back hard? What if it goes back to how it was, where he tells Connie he loves her and she looks at her feet like she can hardly believe it. All he wants is for Connie to know how awesome she is.

And she’s been getting there.

After their training, Steven makes sure that Connie sleeps over at his. It takes a little convincing (“No, mom, really, Steven and I are practicing French together! I only want to stay over to extend our valuable study time!”) but in the end, the adults’ worries are no match for Steven and Connie’s combined stubbornness. They watch videos on the Internet and make-believe that they’re real medieval knights until it’s stupidly late, and Connie yawns.

“I’m tired,” she says, smiling lightly.

“Do you wanna go to sleep?”

She shakes her head. “I really like playing with you. I don’t want to waste any time.”

He laughs and bats her with the cardboard tube he’s been using as a sword. Immediately, she is back on her feet, parrying and striking him with hers. If it was a real fight, she’d have him pinned within seconds. It’s not, though, so they fight until the cardboard tubes fall out of their hands and they practically collapse on one another, laughing. 

“I love you, Connie!”

“You too.”

“You’re super great!”

Her smile fades a little. “Thanks, Steven,” she says in a bit of a forced way.

He pauses. “I really mean it, you know,” he adds, a little quieter. “I think you’re super great.”

Connie laughs. “And you know what I think of you?” she says shyly, picking up a cardboard tube again and fiddling with it in her hands.

“No! What?”

“I think…” She gives an evil grin and hits him on the head with her ‘sword’. “I think you’re going down!”

He makes a big deal of falling backwards onto the couch, and his stomach hurts from laughing. Maybe Connie doesn’t know just how awesome she is, but Steven does, and he’s gonna make sure that one day he succeeds at convincing her.


End file.
